FROM MY FATHERS’ TABLE

‘LIVING BREAD’

   KEEPING THE LIGHT ON!

Matthew 6:22,23 “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”

 

The teachings of Jesus are sent right to the heart of the matter, and are not debatable by man. Yet that is exactly what man will do when he reads the commandments of Jesus. We should remember that these teachings were not given to the unregenerate, but were given to His disciples, in the wonderful passages of chapters 5-7 called the Sermon on the Mount. These chapters deal with our Savior and Masters call to walk in His kingdom according to His word.

            Jesus says something that can be very hard to understand in verse 23. He talks about the light in His followers, becoming actual darkness. In fact, He calls the light turn to darkness great, or another word is terrible. What is He talking about? To understand what He is saying, you must read the beginning of the chapter up to verse 23. Let us walk through these most important passages with Jesus and hear what the Spirit is saying.

            When a person is regenerated by the Holy Spirit, upon repentance and calling on the name of the Lord to be saved, the blessed third person of the trinity comes into the life of the convert and places the light of the world in the soul and spirit of the cleansed new believer. Paul the apostle explains it this way: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior” Titus 3:5,6. Here we have the most concise yet deep portrait of what happens upon repentance and salvation in Jesus Christ. The light of the world enters the soul and spirit of man and it is very noticeable.

 

Darkness #1

Now Jesus teaches in verses 1-4, a very important thing to not fall into and if one does, it must be washed by the Spirit out of the life, or the light of the world that is in the Christian gets foggy and dim and begins to look like darkness. The same darkness that that believer came out of by the Spirit, but because they will not follow the teaching of Jesus, the light of the world begins to look like the world again, darkness. Only this darkness, Jesus says is terrible, great, because they should be seeing Him, but only see a darker side of the Christian that is the poorest witness of all. In verses 1-4, He is talking about doing your alms, or gifts to the poor and letting others know what you are doing. He likens it to hypocrites that do showy giving so they can receive the glory of men. For instance, if you give an offering to the poor, you do not have to tell anyone how much you gave and when you gave it. Wanting to look noble before man, Jesus says this, “You have your reward.” In other words, you just nullified your reward you could have sent up to heaven and your Father who sees all, would have blessed you for it. But now, you will have to settle for the praise of man, which can turn very ugly, very fast.

Darkness #2

            Prayer, Jesus says is a very precious connection to God the Father. And those who pray so others will think they are so holy and good, have their reward already from man, and will not be rewarded in heaven. Using vain repetitions as the heathen do, will not get you heard by the Father, but will make you look awfully dark to the world, if you are a believer. He outlines how to pray in the model prayer the Our Father teachings from verse 9-13. It is a model prayer and in and of itself should not be used repetitiously. There is no magic formula to this prayer, but a beautiful teaching on how to let the Spirit build in you, worship, humility, forgiveness, deliverance.

Darkness #3

            Fasting, verse 16-18; only to be done in secret and quietness before the Father, who rewards openly. He is saying, do not manufacture your own humility which is an outward look; but rather fasting unto God the Father in secret will build His humility in you. If not, the light of the world looks awfully dark to those who should be seeing Jesus.

            Jesus finishes this discourse by telling the disciple to lay up treasures in heaven where thieves cannot break through and steal, where rust, or mold does not corrupt: verses 19-21. True treasure is built in the disciple by following the teachings of Jesus. Letting the light of the world so shine in them and put themselves away for the sake of the gospel. If the disciple truly loves Jesus, their treasures mount up in heaven, not on the earth. The light of the world shines brightly all the time, not just in church.

            Christian, is the light in you full, or are you dimming, because you are slipping up and defaulting over in the flesh again? Keep your eye single, full of light, do not let the light become darkness in you, how terrible!

 

Pastor Sue Lynch